Arizona patients bought 3 tons of legal pot in 2013

PHOENIX -- A new report from state health officials shows Arizona medical
marijuana patients bought nearly three tons of weed in 2013 from 71 licensed
dispensaries, state health officials said Thursday.

The year-end report released Thursday by the Department of Health Services also
showed more than 70 percent of those buyers were men and more than 73 percent
cited chronic pain when applying for their medical marijuana card.

There were more than 422,000 purchases reported from nearly 41,000 cardholders,
according to the department, which oversees the medical marijuana program.

The state estimated that dispensaries bought in about $33 million in revenue
last year based on a $350 an ounce price.

The average patient bought marijuana
10 times and more sales were recorded on Fridays and Saturdays than on other
days.

Arizona voters approved sales of medical marijuana in 2010 by a narrow margin
of about 4,300 votes.

The report quantifies how much marijuana patients are legally purchasing. It
remains unclear how much pot is being grown by caregivers who can legally
cultivate the plant in some instances.

"It is encouraging to see that patients are utilizing licensed dispensaries as
the voters intended," said Ryan Hurley, an attorney for the Arizona Organix
dispensary in Glendale. "Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell whether these
numbers accurately reflect patient use as there are still a number of illegal,
unlicensed and unregulated marijuana clubs that have yet to be shut down by law
enforcement."